1933:

“Snakes Alive!’ declares a headline in the Vancouver Sun, reporting on numerous sightings of an 8-foot-long serpent said to have made its home in the gardens and back alleys of the Grandview area.

“It was first seen a week ago by a woman who was going back out into her back garden,” the paper reports. “She dashed back to the telephone and notified the police. The police came ‘snake hunting’ but the elusive reptile had wiggled off. Monday night, another housewife saw it in her garden, but again it got away before police arrived on the scene, and it was last observed heading for the bush in the 1900 block East Second Avenue.”

A number of rumours emerge about the origins of the Grandview Snake, among them, that it “escaped from a carnival show on the Exhibition grounds last year”, but no concrete proof is ever uncovered.

“Whatever, or whoever the Grandview Snake is,” the Sun concludes, “it has instituted a reign of terror in that district.”

 

IMAGE: A home and lush front garden in the Grandview area, circa 1900s. Image Courtesy of the Vancouver Archives.